Chen Shun woke to pain.
His ribs hurt whenever he breathed too deeply. The wounds across his back burned beneath layers of medicine and bandages.
The healer standing beside his bed did not look sympathetic.
"Three weeks."
Chen Shun's expression darkened.
"Three?"
"Approximately."
"I can walk."
"You have two cracked ribs, deep wounds across your back, and Qi backlash."
The healer adjusted the medicine tray.
"If you insist on proving how well you can walk, I'll make it six."
Chen Shun fell silent.
"Can I cultivate?"
"Qi circulation only. No weapon practice. No body tempering. Nothing that strains the injuries."
That was enough.
Chen Shun closed his eyes.
The healer moved away.
Voices came from beyond the partition.
"...northern sector has been sealed."
"All Outer Court missions there?"
"Suspended. Inner Court took over this morning."
Chen Shun opened his eyes.
The dead monster from his mission surfaced in his memory.
Wrong movements.
A body that should not have moved at all.
Now the north was sealed.
He considered it for a moment, then dismissed it.
Whatever had happened there was no longer his problem.
His problem was simpler.
He had been too weak.
Chen Shun straightened as much as his ribs allowed and began circulating Qi.
If he had three weeks in bed, then he would cultivate for three weeks.
Behind another medicinal screen, Chen Ba opened his eyes.
His first thought was not pain.
There was none.
His hand moved to his abdomen.
Smooth skin.
No bandage.
No tenderness.
Nothing.
But he remembered the attack.
The monster.
The strike.
Something piercing straight through his abdomen.
Then blood.
A lot of blood.
Two healers spoke nearby.
"I'm telling you, there was too much blood."
"And I'm telling you there is no wound."
"His robe was torn through the abdomen."
"Branches tear robes. Tusks tear robes."
"Not like that."
"Then explain the body."
Silence.
The second healer continued.
"No puncture. No torn tissue. No internal damage. Nothing."
"The boy arrived covered in blood."
"He had just fought a Greenback Tuskboar."
Another pause.
"So you think the blood belonged to the Tuskboar?"
"What other explanation do you have?"
The first healer muttered,
"Unless a thirteen-year-old regenerated a hole through his stomach before reaching us."
The second healer snorted.
"Exactly."
Their footsteps faded.
Chen Ba kept his hand over his abdomen.
He remembered other injuries.
Cuts that closed too quickly.
Bruises that vanished overnight.
The fall when he was younger.
Aunty Ning had seen those things too.
He would ask her.
Eventually.
For now, he said nothing.
The curtain beside him shifted.
Chen Shun lay on the next bed, wrapped heavily around the ribs and torso.
Chen Ba looked at him.
"How long?"
"Three weeks."
Chen Shun sounded personally offended by the number.
Chen Ba glanced at the bandages.
"That's long."
"I can cultivate."
"Then you'll survive."
Chen Shun looked at him.
"Your mission?"
"Incomplete."
"Mine was completed."
The faint satisfaction in his voice was impossible to miss.
Chen Ba nodded.
"Good."
That response seemed to irritate Chen Shun more than losing would have.
By late morning, the healers discharged Chen Ba.
There was nothing to treat.
The blood on his clothing was recorded as belonging to the Greenback Tuskboar.
The torn robe meant little without an injury beneath it.
Chen Ba left the Recovery Hall on his own feet.
Chen Shun remained behind.
Elsewhere in the Chen Clan, several Inner Court disciples stood around a blackstone examination table.
Dead tissue lay across its surface.
Animal.
Monster.
Human.
One examiner pressed two fingers against the remains.
A thin strand of Qi entered.
His expression hardened.
"Foreign Qi."
Another examiner scraped a reddish-brown residue from the flesh.
"And life essence."
The room went silent.
The conclusion required no explanation.
Dark cultivation.
The dead had been forced into movement through foreign Qi mixed with drained life essence.
Crude.
Unstable.
But effective enough.
Reports from the northern territory had already begun forming a pattern.
Stonebridge.
Greenmist.
The northern quarry.
Missing animals.
Abnormal corpses.
Unusual monster movement.
They had evidence of a method.
Not a culprit.
Not a motive.
Not even certainty that only one person was responsible.
The order was issued soon after.
A section of the northern territory would remain sealed.
Outer Court missions there were suspended.
The Inner Court would investigate.
Nothing about dark cultivation would be released to the younger disciples.
That afternoon, Chen Ba entered the Mission Hall with Chen Gao, Chen Yiru, Chen Xueyin and Chen Lanyue.
Chen Shun was the only one absent.
Several missions on the northern board had been stamped with red seals.
SUSPENDED — NORTHERN TERRITORY
Other slips carried brown markings.
Chen Gao pointed at one.
"What's that?"
Senior disciple Chen Zhenkai looked over.
"Released."
"Released where?"
"Clan Auxiliary Hall."
Chen Yiru glanced at the board.
"For missions no one takes?"
"Usually."
Chen Zhenkai stepped closer.
"Outer Court disciples get first access. If a mission remains unclaimed, the clan may release it to the Auxiliary Hall."
"After how long?" Chen Gao asked.
"Depends on the mission."
Chen Zhenkai tapped the board.
"An urgent escort might be released quickly. A gathering mission can wait. There is no fixed period."
Chen Ba looked toward the brown-sealed slips.
"Do they still receive Achievement Points?"
"No."
Chen Zhenkai shook his head.
"Achievement Points belong to the Outer Court system. Auxiliary members receive contribution rewards, resources, materials, pills or money."
Lanyue asked,
"Who joins the Auxiliary Hall?"
"Mostly former Outer Court disciples."
That drew all five of their attention.
Chen Zhenkai continued.
"You entered at thirteen. You have until sixteen to enter the Inner Court."
"Ten thousand cumulative Achievement Points. Reach the required cultivation level. Complete the promotion task."
"And if we don't?" Chen Gao asked.
"Your Outer Court period ends."
Chen Gao frowned.
"We leave the clan?"
"No."
Chen Zhenkai almost laughed.
"You remain Chen Clan."
He pointed toward another part of the compound.
"You move into the Auxiliary Hall."
"Escort work. Guard duty. Gathering. Hunting. Caravan protection. Scouting."
"Most form teams. Some call them squads. Some call them gangs."
"Why?"
"Because three people survive jobs that kill one."
Chen Yiru asked,
"They can still cultivate?"
"Of course."
"Still take missions?"
"Yes."
"Still become stronger?"
"Yes."
Chen Zhenkai paused.
"But the normal youth route into the Inner Court is gone."
The distinction settled over them.
Outer Court was not simply a place to live and cultivate.
It was a three-year opportunity.
At sixteen, the door closed.
The five remained near the board for a while longer.
Then Chen Yiru looked across the Mission Hall.
Her gaze moved from one senior disciple to another.
She counted again.
"Ten."
Chen Gao followed her gaze.
"What?"
"Senior disciples."
She counted quietly.
"There should be eleven."
Chen Xueyin understood first.
"Who's missing?"
Chen Zhenkai's expression changed.
Only slightly.
Chen Yiru asked,
"Senior Brother Chen Ruoming?"
The name drew Chen Ba's attention.
Fifteen years old.
Qi Initiate Level Eleven.
Eight thousand four hundred and twenty Achievement Points.
One of the Outer Court disciples closest to promotion.
Chen Zhenkai looked toward the mission counter.
"He took a mission."
Chen Gao waited.
"And?"
Chen Zhenkai's eyes returned to them.
"He hasn't returned."
The afternoon bell rang outside.
No one asked another question.